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No new quota apparel factories till 2005

by Ravi Ladduwahetty

No more apparel factories depending on quotas will be commissioned till 2005, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has told a high powered meeting of apparel industry on Monday.

The Multi-Fibre Agreement (MFA) which allocates quotas for the apparel industry ends in 2005 where all Sri Lankan manufacturers will have to compete internationally.

The decision of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe to ban new quota based apparel industry till 2005 until the Multi-Fibre Agreement (MFA) has been a sequel to Minister of Enterprise Development, Industrial Policy, Investment Promotion and Constitutional Affairs Prof. G.L. Peiris, Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Ravi Karunanayake and Minister of Industries Rohitha Bogollagama jointly appealing to the Premier to do so with the intention of maximising the benefits of the present quota regime.

The meeting with the Prime Minister on Monday was attended by the three Ministers, apparel industrialist Malik Samarawickrema, officials of the Textile Quota Board and all apparel sector associations.

It had also been proposed that the military uniforms for the Sri Lanka Army, Navy, Air Force and the Police and also school uniforms should be tendered through Sri Lanka State Trading (Textiles) Corporation (Salu Sala) and that they be given to all the outstation garment factories which are currently faced with closure, Minister Ravi Karunanayake told the 'Daily News'.

This strategic move will also be instrumental in not only saving a tremendous quantam of foreign exchange as a majority of these uniforms were hitherto imported, he said.

Premier Wickremesinghe has also told the meeting that Sri Lanka should prioritise the Free Trade Agreements with the United States and the UK, while also reaping the maximum benefits of the Indo- Lanka Free Trade Agreement, which also has a mandate for garments.

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